crime

Sheriff Cooper was also ordered to pay the victim $97,000 in restitution.

A New York City man was sentenced to 18 years in prison in federal court in Boston on Wednesday for sex trafficking a young girl, officials said.

Sheriff Cooper, 37, was also ordered to pay $97,000 in restitution to the minor victim, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“Today’s verdict removes a dangerous threat from our community and sends a clear message that human trafficking will not be tolerated,” Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, said in the statement.

In 2017, Cooper was working as a security guard at a residential program for pregnant teens when he met the 15-year-old pregnant girl who had escaped from the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, the statement said.

After losing his job in 2018, Cooper began sex trafficking the victim in Boston under threat of violence and coercion, advertising her sexual services online and keeping all the profits, authorities said.

“When he lost his job, Mr. Cooper decided that he would rather sex traffic a vulnerable child for financial gain than seek legal employment – all while physically abusing and threatening her,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said in the statement.

The victim was trafficked every day, the statement said, “except during her menstruation and on her birthday.”

Cooper took the victim to New York and got her a fake ID so she could strip at a club, the office said. Cooper’s violence reportedly increased when he impregnated the victim and she was no longer able to strip as often.

In February, a federal court jury found him guilty of forcible sex trafficking of minors, fraud and coercion, transporting minors for the purpose of committing sexually transmitted acts, and forced labor.

“Our thoughts today are with the victim in this case who suffered horrific abuse and bravely came forward and told investigators and the jury what Sheriff Cooper did to her,” Cohen said in the statement. “No child should ever be a victim of sex trafficking, especially by someone in a position of trust.”